Polo Ralph Lauren: shopping 3.0

As if you don’t already have enough widgets on your iPhones (I’ve never seen so many phones shaken violently in my life!), Polo Ralph Lauren adds to the mix by introducing the first luxury American mobile commerce website.

Customers can download software to their camera phones, which in turn will scan codes displayed in print ads, mailings, and instore displays. The codes will direct the users to a phone-friendly version of the PRL site, where they can watch video, read web articles, and shop for their cable knit sweaters and Big Pony polos from anywhere they can get reception (at Arthur Ashe Stadium, waiting for the ATP trainer to finish taping up a player’s leg?).

The launch is going to coincide with the apparel maker’s sponsorship of the US Open, which begins at the end of this month.

As with most things mobile, the US is way behind trendy Asia and even old-fashioned Europe when it comes to customers adopting some of the latest and greatest mobile technology. In Japan, it is quite common for people to buy tickets and vending machine products using their mobile phones. But hey, later is better than never.